The legend of Olympiacos and Greek basketball, Vassilis Spanoulis, after 20 years of a brilliant career, is retiring.

The decision to end a magnificent career at the age of 39, although everything seemed open for his future at Olympiakos, was taken by “V-Span” and he made it known through a post on Instagram.

“Basketball gave me a unique journey full of intense moments and great emotions. “It gave me everything and I gave it everything”, “Kill-Bill” said.

This is a move that no one could have predicted, as Vassilis Spanoulis had recently decided to returned to the Greek National Team after an absence of six years, but he was not meant to wear the blue and white jersey again, as a problem in the back of his leg put him out of the fight for the pre-Olympic tournament.

Words are useless for the tremendous achievements of the leader of Olympiacos, the former Panathinaikos player and for years the soldier of the National Team.

Among other things, he won the Euroleague three times (2009,2012,2013) (twice with Olympiakos, once with Panathinaikos), having been named MVP of the tournament once (2013), three times MVP of the Final-4, while he leaves as the first scorer of the tournament, but also top in assists. At the same time, he has won the Greek Championship 7 times and the Greek Cup 4 times. Of course, he also had a great presence with the Greek National Team, with which he was at the top of Europe in 2005. A year later he helped Greece qualify to the World Cup final against the USA Dream Team in a magical game, where Greece was defeated by Spain.

He belongs to the club of Greek athletes who played in the NBA, having worn the Rockets jersey in the 2006-07 season, while his transfer to Olympiakos from Panathinaikos in the summer of 2010 was a turning point in his career.

His post in detail:

“I recently announced to the presidents that it was time to close the biggest chapter of my life and I thanked them for what we have achieved together.

It was a difficult decision but it was not sad.

Basketball gave me a unique journey full of intense moments and great emotions. It gave me everything and I gave it everything.

Olympiacos proved to be my destiny and my most beautiful port. I leave proud of all the great things that were conquered but also of all that were lost after a hard battle. Above all, I leave full, because I lived more than I dreamed I would.

From the bottom of my heart I want to thank everyone who has been by my side all these years, the presidents, the coaches, the teammates, the associates and the opponents, but above all I want to thank all the fans for their love. It was this love that gave me the strength to try harder every day and this love will be my guide forever.

THANK YOU ALL FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART. VASILIS SPANOULIS, A CHILD WHO DREAMED TO PLAY BASKETBALL…”

 

Δείτε αυτή τη δημοσίευση στο Instagram.

 

Η δημοσίευση κοινοποιήθηκε από το χρήστη Spanoulis Vassilis (@vassilis7span)

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Petrounias “Lord of the Rings”: Gold medal & qualification for the Olympic Games